Recruiting Roundtable: Sharing our post-NSD thoughts

With National Signing Day having come and gone, Ohio State is now mostly focusing their recruiting efforts toward prospects in the 2022 and 2023 cycles. Top-10 overall senior target J.T. Tuimoloau still remains on the market, but he is not close to making his decision just yet.

Since Feb. 3 is in the rear-view mirror, BuckeyeGrove wanted to share our post-NSD thoughts and a prediction for the Buckeyes' 2022 class.

In this edition of Recruiting Roundtable, Andy Anders and Joseph Hastings dish out their thoughts on whether they believe the traditional signing day should be restored, or if it's better to have two signing periods. They also talk about the importance of the nearly yearlong dead period coming to an end, and how many five-stars they envision OSU landing in this next cycle.

Anders: Assuming the April 17 Spring Game date holds up, the NCAA dead period finally ending after more than a year on April 15 would be huge for Ohio State.

Spring games always bring cavalcades of visitors, so it would be a chance to get top targets, both committed and uncommitted, acquainted with campus.

Visits to the Spring Game typically trigger a ton of momentum for a school on the recruiting trail. Teams didn’t get that opportunity in 2020 due to COVID-19-related cancellations of spring games and spring practices in general.

Coaches have to be getting antsy for this ultra-extended dead period to end.

Come March, it will have been a year since face-to-face contact has been allowed for recruits, and that’s not only a hardship for coaches trying to recruit top talent, but also for players deciding which school is the best fit for them.

Getting a resolution passed that allows for the layoff to finally end in mid-April would be gargantuan, not just for Ohio State but for essentially every D-1 college football team.

Hastings: It is very important for Ohio State to have the dead period come to an end following April 15.

In my opinion, it is not an absolute necessity for their recruiting efforts in the 2022 cycle like it is for other programs. Ohio State is off to such a hot start in the class — 10 commits, with a trio of them being five-stars, has given them the top-ranked class so far — that it is definitely more beneficial for other programs to host visits as soon as possible.

Where this potential end of the dead period becomes even more important for the Buckeyes, however, is in their pursuit of five-star senior target JT Tuimoloau.

Tuimoloau’s recruitment has admittedly been hard to get a good read on. I’m not sure if a visit to Ohio State is necessary for him before he commits; we saw TreVeyon Henderson and Tyleik Williams commit without visiting, so it’s not unheard of.

All we know in this industry is that hosting prospects on campus never hurts your pursuit of them unless a program is ill-prepared and/or the campus doesn’t “wow” a prospect and their family. This should not be the case for the Buckeyes if/when Tuimoloau checks out the school.

I think Ohio State is in a good enough position right now to land Tuimoloau even if he doesn’t make it out to Columbus, but a visit could seal the deal here.

I’ll also note the end of the dead period in mid-April may assist the Buckeyes greatly when it comes to the 2023 class. Some may say this is looking too far ahead given there are targets in the two cycles before 2023, but let’s take a look at how this group of junior commits started.

Jyaire Brown, Tegra Tshabola and CJ Hicks all the got the ball rolling in a three-week span in the spring of their sophomore years. It wouldn’t surprise me if, after hosting recruits on campus for the first time in over a year, the Buckeyes can land a couple of 2023 targets, which would be their first commitments in that class.

Anyway you look at it, most people are excited for the return of visits, even if they look a little differently than they did in the past.

Anders: I like the current structure. I think if a recruit knows 100 percent where he wants to go and doesn’t feel the need to visit anywhere else, it’s fine to give him the ability to sign the dotted line in December.

Just don’t pressure somebody trying to make a life-changing decision to make it exactly at that time.

The counter-argument here is that there are recruits that flip in the month or two leading into traditional signing day, but again, if a player is unsure, he should feel no pressure to sign in December.

It’s changed the game in recruiting, that’s for sure. Players are getting offered at younger ages and teams seem to hand them out like candy because you have to be in earlier and earlier on prospects to have a legitimate shot.

Throw in the fact juniors can take official visits now and the increase in spring-time officials (when COVID-19 isn’t a factor) and you have a recruiting calendar that is moved way up.

Even looking at Ohio State’s 2021 class, every single player committed before the early signing period signed. All but four of the 21 were committed prior to June 2020.

The early signing period looks to be here to stay, and I don’t mind it so long as recruits feel comfortable in their decision.

Hastings: This is a tough question to wrestle with.

All I have known since covering recruiting, when it comes to reporting is the Early Signing Period and also the traditional National Signing Day. For me, personally, it just doesn’t have as much excitement as all recruits signing on one day.

Look, I know ESP is great for recruits to get them on campus early and to get a head start to their college careers. So, logically speaking, I would say to keep the two signing periods and let players decide their own futures.

From what is the most interesting, however, having just the traditional NSD is easily the answer. You get almost most of the prospects in a class signed in one day, and there's a lot more drama.

More announcements, more coverage, more changes in the rankings throughout the day... it is thrilling for everyone involved, unless your program misses out on some key targets. It also incentivizes some players to maybe wait a little bit longer to announce their decisions, adding to the excitement of the day.

As it is now, however, it just isn’t the same as it was before.

Anders: At least three right? That’s how many are already committed, all of them pledging before the class ahead of them passed the traditional National Signing Day.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day can recruit, folks. This we know.

I have a feeling more five stars will be added to the class of 2022, because right now only 18 prospects hold that designation. Can’t tell you why that’s the case, other than that’s the rating the folks at Rivals HQ felt each player earned.

What I can say is that, based on his trajectory, four-star defensive end Caden Curry should be a five-star by the time his class signs and is considered a heavy Ohio State lean. In terms of current five-stars Ohio State is in on offensive tackles Zach Rice, Kam Dewberry and Julian Armella; cornerbacks Will Johnson and Denver Harris; and defensive tackles Walter Nolen and Travis Shaw.

I wouldn’t even count Ohio State out for recent USC commitment Domani Jackson at corner, should something happen to USC head coach Clay Helton this season.

There’s still more high-end four stars that are Ohio State commits or leans that could earn five-star status before the cycle ends. Either way, 2022 will be a special class.

My final prediction: Seven. Seven who, at least at one time, were a five-star (I say “at least at one time” taking into account how a few Ohio State commits that didn’t deserve it lost five-star status in the 2021 class).

Hastings: This is a tough question to answer given the potential rankings changes in the future. We also have to take into account future or even current commits who could even up finishing as five-stars.

I am thinking the magic number here is four. That’s a safe bet, but I could easily seeing this being as high as six.

The reason I say this is that the most five-stars Ohio State has ever signed in a single class was a half-dozen back in the 2017 cycle.

The next most was four five-stars, which occurred in the 2008 cycle, though that can occur again if they sign Tuimoloau. Just based on recent history and how difficult it is to sign five-star prospects, I think four is a solid number for this response.

I don’t see Quinn Ewers giving up his five-star status, but it will be interesting to see where CJ Hicks and Jaheim Singletary wind up. I also could see them landing five-stars Shawn Murphy or Zach Rice, or potentially borderline five-star Caden Curry.

My prediction is more of a projection, but I think it is a reasonable exceptions for Ohio State and its fan base.

Stay tuned to BuckeyeGrove.